'WHY ME?'
Edmonton stabbings – Victim screams ‘why has this happened to me’ as he’s knifed in the back in fourth random North London attack during bloody 14-hour rampage
A MAN wailed "why has this happened to me?" after being randomly knifed on the streets of North London - one of four attacks in just 14 hours.
Cops issued a desperate appeal for locals to stay vigilant after the string of attacks that saw the victims, all "alone and vulnerable" at the time, knifed.
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Police believe a lone attacker was behind the bloodshed - the latest in a series of brutal knifings amid Britain's ongoing knife crime crisis.
The four stabbings that unfolded over Saturday and Sunday on the streets of Edmonton, North London, are now being treated as linked as cops warn the suspect "approached from behind without warning".
Plumber Roger Blackman, 46, was visiting his mum on Mother's Day yesterday when he heard a chilling scream on Brettenham Road about 9.40am yesterday - within a quarter-mile radius of the three earlier attacks.
He told the Sun Online: "I was getting tools from the back of my van and I heard a scream on an area of grass to the right of my Mum’s house. That’s where he got stabbed. I saw somebody crouched down who then ran off back into the estate on Folkestone Road.
"As I walked to the area I heard another scream and then the victim came out holding his back.
"He was saying ‘why has this happened to me? Oh my god, help me’."
He said he at first thought the victim had been punched of hit as he stumbled across the road, screaming.
Mr Blackman said: ";I saw blood pouring out his back onto the ground."
He was saying ‘why has this happened to me? Oh my god, help me’.
Roger Blackman
He said he immediately rushed to help, grabbing towels from his van as police flooded to the scene.
He said: "I came back with the towels and I put compression on his wound. You could see a big 3 inch gash in his back. He had a grey black jacket on and that was completely soaked.
"The guy who stabbed him was a guy with dark skin and short hair. He ran back into the estate and the victim came the other way. He collapsed on the road. It was silence up until the scream.
"I don’t think he realised at first he’d been stabbed as he walked across the road and took his phone out. It was only when he got across the road that the blood started pouring out.
"He then dropped into shock. He was around 30."
The lone knifeman is described as a tall, skinny black man who was wearing a hood and dark clothing.
STRING OF ATTACKS
He first struck at 7pm on Saturday night when he stabbed a 45-year-old woman in the back. She is currently fighting for her life.
The second victim, a 52-year-old man, was attacked just after midnight and is in a non-life threatening condition in hospital.
Just before 4am on Sunday, a 23-year-old man was knifed in Edmonton and found three miles away at Seven Sisters Tube station.
He is no longer in a life threatening condition.
Two men have been arrested in connection with the spate of brutal attacks - in which victims were stabbed in the back.
But police have warned that the knifeman may still be at large as a frantic manhunt continues today.
All of the victims were on their own when they were ambushed from behind without warning.
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Video of ‘bloody’ aftermath left behind by a knife man on a stabbing spree in London
Cops yesterday issued a chilling warning to the public, confirming "This remains a live investigation and police are pursuing all lines of inquiry. Members of the public are advised to remain vigilant."
One resident, Cengiz Topal, said he was woken by the cries of the fourth victim - rushing outside to help.
He said: "I was asleep and I just heard somebody shouting 'help, help' and I saw him on the floor.
"He must've walked through the middle of the estate to the main road where he collapsed.
"I went outside and I could tell he had been stabbed.
I saw the woman lying face down. She said she only went out for a walk on her own.
Witness Dervish Husseyin
"I was trying to help him but there were other people there and the police arrived almost immediately.
"He was a young man - a poor young man. It's so terrible.
"I just stood there watching the police cut off his clothes while he was lying there still with his eyes closed. I don't even know if he is alive."
SINGLE MALE SUSPECT
Scotland Yard is desperately trying to trace the "single male suspect" who is described as being 6ft 3ins tall.
Police have said there will be extra resources in the area to keep the public safe until they have apprehended the stabber.
Dervish Husseyin was at his friend's house on Aberdeen Road when the first stabbing took place.
The 60-year-old said: "I saw the woman lying face down."
Mr Husseyin said the woman had "blood on her back" but did not seem to realise she had been stabbed.
He added: "She said she only went out for a walk on her own."
He said the woman who was stabbed lives locally and English is not her first language.
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A restaurant worker told of her horror of waking up to the "bloody" aftermath left behind by the stabbing spree.
The Turkish woman, who lives on the Edmonton estate where the last of four victims was stabbed, was faced with a crime scene when she stepped out onto her balcony this morning.
She said: "My balcony looks down onto the spot where the man was lying on the ground.
"I heard screaming outside and stood on the balcony - there were people running around.
"There were so many sirens and police everywhere. Then I saw a body on the floor surrounded by police."
A newsagent, whose corner shop faces onto the council estate, said: "I was working and I heard shouting coming from outside.
"I thought it was people just being silly but then I saw people running through the estate shouting 'police.'
"I didn't know what to think and then I saw the man who had been stabbed just fall to the ground."
POTENTIALLY LINKED
The worrying attacks come after a man was fatally knifed in leafy Clapham on Friday - then the third violent death in the capital in just three days.
A/DCI Stuart Smillie, from North Area Command, said: “We are doing everything we can to apprehend the suspect behind these cowardly and senseless attacks.
“The four stabbing related incidents are being treated as potentially linked.
"The four victims are from different backgrounds and appear to have been selected at random due to them being alone and vulnerable.
"There is nothing to suggest this incident is terror related.
“We are working on the hypothesis that the single male suspect is acting alone and mental health issues may be a factor.
"All of the people he has targeted have been walking alone and the suspect has approached from behind without warning.
"The motive from the stabbing appears to be solely to inflict harm.
"Early accounts suggest none of the victims were robbed or engaged in conversation before they were attacked."
14-HOUR BLOODY RAMPAGE IN 1/4 MILE RADIUS
7.02pm GMT Saturday: A 45-year-old woman was stabbed in the back in Aberdeen Road, Edmonton, after being attacked by the man and remains in a critical condition in an East London hospital
12.15am Sunday: A man was stabbed in Park Avenue - a 10-minute walk away from the first incident - and is currently in a non-life threatening condition
3.55am BST Sunday: A 23-year-old man was stabbed in Silver Street and found three miles away outside Seven Sisters Tube station. He is in a critical condition in hospital
9.43am Sunday: A man was stabbed in the back in Brettenham Road and has suffered potentially life-threatening injuries
A/DCI Smillie added: “My advice to the public in the area where these incidents took place stay vigilant, beware of your surroundings and call 999 if you see anyone matching the suspect's description behaving suspiciously.
“His description has been circulated to all officers in North Area who are carrying out patrols, CCTV footage enquiries and policing busy areas around where the incidents took place, particularly where he was last seen where police arrived four minutes after the call to police was made.
"A picture of this suspect will be circulated as soon as one is retrieved."
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of GBH.
The first was arrested at 10.53 yesterday morning and a second man in his 40s was arrested last night.
Police enquiries are continuing to establish if these men are responsible for the stabbings and both are still in custody.
Cops are urging the public to stay vigilant in case the knifeman is still loose.
STABBINGS AT A 40 YEAR HIGH
KNIFE crime is at the “highest and most worrying” level in forty years, the Met Police chief says.
But Cressida Dick insisted figures are falling — with knife-related injuries down 15 per cent on last year.
She told MPs on the Commons Home Affairs Committee she is “cautiously optimistic” that serious knife crime is stabilising in London and other UK cities.
But the Commissioner said the past few years had been “deeply worrying” with more younger people involved and more knives on our streets.
She added: “The last couple of years undoubtedly have been the highest and most worrying levels in my service. If you look at stabbings of young people, I do think this is a new and tragic and worrying phenomenon. It is my number one priority.”
There were 44 violent deaths in London by March 26 in 2018 compared with 31 killings this year.
MOST READ IN NEWS
The bloodshed comes as knife crime rages on in Britain, with a 25-year-old shot dead in West Norwood on Wednesday and a man aged in his early 20s stabbed to death in Regent's Park on Thursday night.
A string of attacks last week also saw six people - including four teens - stabbed on Tuesday alone.
There were 44 violent deaths in London by March 26 in 2018 - compared with 29 killings this year.
Commissioner Cressida Dick told the Commons Home Affairs Committee the rate of attacks over the last few years had been “deeply worrying” - with younger people increasingly involved and more knives on our streets.
She added: “The last couple of years undoubtedly have been the highest and most worrying levels in my service.
"If you look at stabbings of young people, I do think this is a new and tragic and worrying phenomenon.
"It is my number one priority.”
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